Through layers of paint in varying translucency, Karen Black explores not only the physical nature of the female form but through her use of abstraction and considered use of colour she brings out another dimension – an emotional layer.
There is a strong sense of a spontaneous response in her paintings so you may be surprised to hear that reading and research play as much a role in her process as creating those drips and brushstrokes.
Karen talks with me in this episode about her fascination with recent research on frequencies and vibrations which occur in all matter. That interest informs her most recent body of work which will be on view in her upcoming solo show ‘alternative frequency’ at Ames Yavuz in Sydney.
Karen has been acclaimed with awards and residencies and her work is in the collections of many public institutions. She has been repeatedly shortlisted in the Archibald and Sulman prizes, among many others, and has work hanging in both those prize exhibitions in the Art Gallery of NSW this year. She has also been recognised for her ceramic work, two of which have been acquired by the National Gallery of Victoria.
In this podcast episode Karen talks with me about her childhood memories of art, how she came to painting, the story behind her current show and some interesting aspects of her process.
Congratulations to previous podcast guest Laura Jones on winning the Archibald Prize – Australia’s most famous portrait prize – with a sensitive and meaningful portrait of writer and environmentalist Tim Winton.
On Friday I interviewed Laura shortly after the announcement and I’m bringing you that 5 minute conversation in this episode but I’ve also gone through the archives to my podcast conversation with Laura in 2018 to bring you something extra.
When I interviewed Laura a few years ago it was after she had finished a residency on the Great Barrier Reef where she was studying the terrible bleaching events which occurred there (and continue to occur) and her concern surrounding those events is not unconnected with her winning portrait in this year’s Archibald Prize.
Because it was after seeing Tim Winton’s documentary on the ABC, Ningaloo Nyinggulu, about the fight to save the Ningaloo reef that Laura requested an Archibald portrait sitting. They have in common a sense of urgency that we must act now on climate change and are doing everything they can to bring attention to the devastating and inevitable consequences of inaction.
One of the most interesting parts of my conversation with Laura was when she explained how coral bleaching occurs. It’s complex and scientific but she explained it in a way that anyone could understand so I thought I would bring you that part of the interview today .
The Archibald, Wynne and Sulman Prizes exhibition continues until Sunday 8 September 2024. The Archibald finalist works then go on tour across 5 venues across NSW and for the first time, to the Northern Territory. The Wynne Prize finalist works will tour to four venues in regional NSW.
Risk. Some painters want it in their toolbox while others are terrified by it. But nearly every painter will tell you that you need it in order to move forward in your practice.
It might be using a new material, drastically altering the composition of a nearly completed painting or creating a completely different body of work to what had previously been commercially successful and critically acclaimed. Any way you look at it, you’re leaving yourself open to the possibility of failure, disappointment and probably the most painful of all – ridicule.
So whether we call it risk, chance, letting go of control or just leaving yourself open to mistakes, it all amounts to a greater openness to creativity. Taking the leap and seeing what happens.
In this episode I bring together clips from eight previous guests about what risk means to them – and how they use it.
See below for a list of the artists together with links to the full podcast conversation and YouTube video
Press ‘play’ above to hear the podcast episode and click here or scroll down for YouTube video!
Over the last six years Justin Williams has not only been exhibiting all over Australia but in Europe and the US, with his work hanging in galleries in New York, L.A, Paris, Copenhagen, Stockholm, Athens and London.
Williams depicts the world outside the mainstream, usually set in nature or a seemingly imaginary or folkloric world. He’s interested in the characters who represent the archetypal outsider such as Baba Desi, the wizard living in the Dandenongs and ‘The Family’ cult leader Anne Hamilton-Byrne. He feels, though, that not all outsiders live on the fringes of society and that it could include all of us to some extent.
From working on fishing trawlers to single handedly building his own cabin in the forest, Williams does not seek out the safety of the comfortable life and it’s only been relatively recently that he has found a stability of sorts in comparison to his earlier, less predictable, life.
His current show Arcana II, showing at Galerie L’Inlassable in Paris, depicts scenarios inspired from a tarot card reading by a Parisian clairvoyant. The works are mysterious with a hint of foreboding. Powerful colour combinations and brushwork makes the viewer linger.
He believes he is a relatively unknown in Australia but that that has given him the freedom to work without restraint.
It was a thoroughly enjoyable conversation. To hear it just press play beneath the feature photo above!
Scroll down to see a short video of Williams in his studio.
Melinda Harper is one of Australia’s leading abstract artists. Her works, filled with geometric forms and often with an explosion of colour, have been fascinating art lovers for over 30 years.
Whether its hundreds of rectangles crammed onto the canvas or wavy forms filled with psychedelic stripes, your eye is going to be subjected to a feast of colour and form.
In this episode we talk about, amongst other things, colour, why she paints in oils when acrylics would appear to be the obvious choice, and how, when she was at art school, her approach was not at all in fashion.
Harper has been exhibiting for over 30 years and has had over 25 solo shows. In 2015, one of Australia’s leading art institutions, Heide Museum of Modern Art, held a major survey of her work called ‘Colour Sensation: The Works of Melinda Harper’. Her work is contained in the permanent collections of the National Gallery of Australia, National Gallery of Victoria, Art Gallery of NSW and other public and private collections.
I caught up with Harper at her home near the town of Castlemaine, in the beautiful goldfield regions of Victoria.
To hear the podcast interview press ‘play’ under the feature photo above.
A short video of Harper in her studio will be posted to this website, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube soon.
Natasha Walsh is one of Australia’s most exciting emerging artists. A few months ago, over a period of about 12 weeks, she won three prestigious art awards; the Kilgour Prize, the Brett Whiteley Travelling Art Scholarship and the Mosman Art Prize.
She’s also been a finalist in the Archibald Prize for the last 3 years in a row with stunning self portraits. And she’s only 24.
But the road to this success has not been smooth. Experiencing dyslexia as a child, she struggled both academically and socially in her early years and had to learn strategies to fit in. There’s also been an intermittent struggle with depression and she speaks openly about those experiences and how they have impacted her fascinating self portraits.
Painting on canvas has never really interested her. She’s more interested in transforming materials into ideas. Those materials have ranged from wax and copper to marble.
Walsh displays wisdom beyond her years and it was great to meet her.
Press ‘play’ which appears beneath the feature photo to hear the podcast episode.
Scroll down to see a short video of Walsh in her studio.
Current and upcoming shows
Mosman art prize (winner) Mosman Art Gallery current until 18 November 2018
Archibald Prize, Geelong Gallery current until 18 November 2018
Joe Furlonger is one of Australia’s most respected painters, with his work crossing landscape, figures and portraiture.
He’s probably best known for a particular kind of landscape which he returns to time and time again. He paints those flat areas of the Australian farmlands and bush, the places where at first glance there doesn’t seem to be much going on, where the horizon seems to stretch out forever. Places like Moree and the Darling Downs. But he always seems to find a way to interpret those spaces which injects an excitement into the image and that invariably involves multiple layers of paint energetically applied.
Furlonger’s not concerned with traditional rules of landscape painting or the restrictions of gaining an exact likeness in portraiture. His methods appear to be instinctive in one sense but, on the other hand, also drawn from keen observation. What emerged from talking with him, though, was his constant struggle to avoid stagnation and his desire to always be looking for a new approach until even that method is exhausted and it’s time to move on.
He’s a multi award winning artist and has had 35 solo shows. His work is held in the National Galleries of Australia and Victoria and the Art Gallery of NSW as well as many other public and private collections.
We recorded this conversation when his work was hanging in Defiance Gallery’s show ‘Six Artists | Seven Days’ which was brought about together with the Australian Wildlife Conservancy when six artists were taken to one of the AWC’s sanctuaries in Newhaven in the Northern Territory. Scroll down to see a short video taken at the gallery.
To hear the interview press ‘play’ beneath the feature photo above.
Jacqui Stockdale paints, sculpts, collages, creates animations, has staged live performances and produces exquisite portrait photography.
When I visited her Melbourne studio I was bowled over by a huge horse she had sculpted – a life-sized Phar Lap in the middle of the studio piled high with a large collection of masks on its back; masquerade masks which she first came upon on a trip to india and kept collecting. Bright, expressive and slightly creepy.
Horses and masks feature again and again but her work is never predictable. She’s always shaking it up a bit, adding a touch of shock value along the way. Her photographic art work ‘Historia’, of a topless female Ned Kelly, would have raised the eyebrows of one or two historians.
Over the time she spent in Sydney in the late 90s she painted prolifically and was awarded five art prizes in less than two years and has won several prizes since then including the Moran Contemporary Photograhic award. She has exhibited in 20 solo shows and has a show coming up at Sydney’s Olsen gallery in November 2018.
Stockdale’s work is held in public institutions including the National Gallery of Australia, many private collections, and has even been hung in the Louvre in Paris. She is also one of only 20 artists recently commissioned by the National Portrait Gallery to create work for its 20th anniversary.
This conversation was recorded before an audience at Town Hall Gallery in Melbourne on 22 September 2018 in the midst of a show brought together by the artist Ilona Nelson, through her creative project ‘This Wild Song’.
To hear the podcast interview press ‘play’ under the feature photo above.
Group show ‘This Wild Song’, Town Hall Gallery, current to 21 October 2018
Show Notes
Ep 55: Alexander McKenzie
Tuesday, September 25, 2018 • Duration 01:09:00
In Alexander McKenzie’s paintings the sun hides below the horizon and a low light illuminates the mysterious landscape. It might be a manicured garden or a hill covered in trees and there will probably be water nearby. Perhaps the sea, a lake, a channel. Perfectly still but brightly reflecting the sky.
One thing’s for sure. You’re going to venture in for a closer look. At first it might look familiar but as you get closer you realise it’s not a place that you’re likely to find on this earth. You’ll discover things you didn’t notice at first glance; a closed gate with its key lost in the painting, a bridge taking you to another place, a red flag warning you to reconsider.
Those elements are not accidental. They’ve been deliberately placed by the artist who is himself looking for answers where spirituality is key. Even the symbols in his portraiture lend themselves to a metaphoric interpretation.
He’s had twenty five solo shows in Australia and the UK, has been a finalist in the Archibald six times, seven times in the Wynne Prize and is hugely popular. McKenzie’s shows often sell out and his superb mid-career survey show ‘The Adventurous Gardener’ currently at Hazelhurst Regional Gallery in Sydney has been what could be called a blockbuster for a regional gallery, with 2000 people going through the doors on the first weekend.
We recorded this episode in McKenzie’s studio with some of his paintings in progress propped up on milk crates against the walls destined for Martin Browne Contemporary and his November solo show.
To hear the conversation press ‘play’ beneath the feature photo above. Or listen however you get your podcasts.
Scroll down to see a video of McKenzie talking about his survey show ‘The Adventurous Gardener’.
Ann Thomson is one of Australia’s most significant artists. She’s been painting for over 60 years, has exhibited in over 40 solo shows and there’s no sign of her slowing down. Her works are filled with colour and movement which command the viewer’s attention. They’re all about feeling and touch, delving into abstraction in her unique way.
She’s won the Wynne prize, the Geelong Contemporary art prize, the Kedumba Drawing prize, the Tattersall’s art prize and others. She’s also an acclaimed sculptor and, as with her paintings, likes to work in large scale. Her incredible installation selected for the Seville Expo in 1992 was 11 metres high and took 3 months to complete when it was shipped over to Spain.
I had a great conversation with Ann in her huge studio in Sydney’s eastern suburbs. We talked about why we need musicians and artists, what makes a strong painting, how to tap into creativity and lots more.
Her work is included in the forthcoming show ‘6 artists | 7 days’ at Defiance Gallery which opens on 23 September 2018.
Thomson grew up in Brisbane and this episode starts at a time when she was 9 years old, during WWII, when her school had been closed down amid fears of enemy attacks.
Press ‘play’ beneath the feature photo above to hear the podcast interview.
Scroll down to see video of Thomson in her studio.
Feature photo of Ann Thomson above (cropped) by Greg Weight
Current and upcoming events
National Art – Part one, group show, National Art School, current to 27 October 2018
Mary Place Group Exhibition, Defiance Gallery, current to 20 October 2018
Six artists | Seven days, the AWC Newhaven exhibition, group show, Defiance Gallery, 23 September to 19 October
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